campaignsfandomcom-20200223-history
Year Round Schooling
Summer breaks are an anachronistic vestige of our agrarian past: students used to require summers off so they could help their parents harvest summer crops. Our current school system spends a considerable time of the new school year re-teaching everything from last year that the students forgot over the summer. Instead of the large summer break, year round schooling should be adopted, giving more regular, but shorter, breaks. The primary educational benefit of YRE is that it facilitates continuous student learning. Source: Year-Round Education. ERIC Digest, Number 68 Students who attend year-round school rate slightly higher in retaining learned material. Source: Year-Round School Gives Kids a Boost, Duke Expert Says On the other hand trying to teach during the summer months can be ineffective and even detrimental to children and the overall education process. Counter Point to Year Round Schooling Schools are taught by people who value academic education, often above all else. They are thus very good at preparing people for academic life, but often do not succeed for students with aptitudes in the fine arts, mechanical tinkering, or the like. Summer breaks allow for a long enough time period for students with such aptitudes to attend serious theater/dance/arts conservatories, or to experiment with apprenticeship programs and internships. One could further argue for expanding summer breaks, along with an increase in internship programs for high school students, in order to better prepare students for the many potential careers that only loosely depend on the skills taught in schools. :This makes the assumption that fine arts, mechanical tinkering and the like have no place in the regular 9-month school schedule. Why should these types of classes be absent from school, and thus make the students look outside of school for things they actually enjoy and are good at? Chadlupkes 02:14, 31 August 2006 (UTC) ::If year round schooling were enacted, there would probably be massive student protests, because, though kids like their arts conservatories, camps, and jobs, they like some free time the most. Of course, it would be considered minor by the media, which would naturally focus on things adults would rather hear about, like celebrities and lack of news. 209.137.182.35 02:49, 31 August 2006 (UTC) :::What about the school districts that already use it? Like San Diego where my sons go to school? It doesn't mean that kids don't get breaks, it means the breaks are shorter and more frequent. Chadlupkes 02:53, 31 August 2006 (UTC) ::::I was hoping someone would respond. Well, there can be plenty of breaks. But summer is a chance to relax and enjoy oneself. Have you ever noticed that students get lots of homework over the shorter breaks? Summer homework, while a burden, isn't much compared to that during the intensive breaks during the school year. Students see summer as a time to look forward to. The promise of summer break keeps them sane, especially with exams. 209.137.182.35 03:07, 31 August 2006 (UTC) :::::I remember my school years, way back when, and after 6 weeks off I'd already be getting bored, but I'd still have another 6 weeks to go. Two weeks here, three weeks there, that works in most countries. Why wouldn't it work in the United States? What makes the US different? What makes San Diego different? Chadlupkes 03:15, 31 August 2006 (UTC) Category:Education